My wife Karen and I were returning from a retreat and having a deep spiritual conversation. "What am I good at?," she asked me. "Everyone has a specialty, but not me!" "You're a 'jack of all trades honey," I said trying to be reassuring. Who cares if you're a 'master of none?" I'm not sure she found that helpful. At least not initially. Still, isn't it true? Over the years, I've been told repeatedly, as has my wife, that we should find a specialty. We've heard countless messages about the value of focus. And perhaps you too have struggled to find that one thing--the unique gift God may have given you that allows you to find a niche and stick with it to the exclusion of all else. But what if.

I grew-up in a family of hunters. My favorite season was the Fall when we'd hunt partridge, pheasant, and ducks. I was a pretty good wing shot and I loved working with a group of friends/family plus a good dog...although that was/is hard to find. A good bird dog will find birds, wait till the right time, jump those birds and when the hunter shoots one, retrieve them. I never seemed to get the combination right over the years. First there was Smokey, actually my uncle’s dog. Smokey would point and jump them well, but then he’d only bring birds to my uncle regardless of who shot them. Also, if they fell in the water, we were all out of luck because Smokey, a Weimaraner, didn’t do water. Later

You know you’re traveling too much when… Early in my career, I worked as an executive search consultant. A large part of my job was traveling across the country to conduct interviews of candidates for companies like Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, Saft Battery, and others. Sometimes, I’d do three cities a day for 5 days straight. I literally would forget where I was and what time it was due to jet lag and time zone changes. One morning, I remember waking up in a hotel room and having absolutely no idea where I was. I had been traveling for days at that point. I used to stay at Marriott Courtyard Hotels since they were all laid out the same and it felt like home. The problem with that is they all l

There's a stupid reality show called "Naked and Afraid." Perhaps you've heard of it. I told my team that I didn't need to watch it since I experience that every time I get out of the shower and face the mirror--I'm naked--and I'm DEFINITELY afraid! Seeing the "naked truth" about ourselves can sometimes lead to healthy, positive change. But how do we make sure that change actually takes place and, that it lasts? I would argue that all positive, lasting change involves four stages. In our seminars, we cover this at length. Still for the sake of brevity and in the hopes of adding value to your change management process, let me summarize them here: STAGE ONE: FOSTER DISCONTENT This seems counter